Subjection, Subjugation
by Avarwen
Summary: “That place” is the only name he could use to refer to it He knew no other name for it, and did not think it was worthy of one. “Torture chamber” had seemed like a likely candidate at first, but even that was not enough to describe the horror’s of it.


A/N: Well I'm back with a new story.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I'm torturing poor little Inuyasha again.

Anyway, this story is one that I've heard people talk about the plot of alot, but I've never actually _seen_ anyone write (though maybe I'm just not looking hard enough), so I thought I'd give it a shot and... well, this is how things turned out.

Anyway, it takes place during (or after, depending on how you look at it) Episode 82, just after Inuyasha saved that little girl from the fire and his hat blew off.

Basically I'm just supposing what would happen if someone else had seen his ears and he had been captured...

_Anyway, in case any of you are wondering, I'm afraid that I've had to go back to making this a one-shot. I've simply got too much to do right now to consider continuing in making this a continuation. Maybe someday when I finish some of my other stories, but right now, it's become more of a burden than an enjoyment, and if I'm not enjoying writing it, then the story comes out worse than it should. _

_Gomen!_

**DISCLAIMER - **I DON'T OWN INUYASHA OR ANY OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS FROM THE ANIME/MANGA. I MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THEM! The only things I own are the OC's and the story, so don't try and steal that!

_----Subjection - Being in a position or in circumstances that place one under the power or authority of another or others; 1: forced submission to control by others; 2: the act of conquering_

_Subjugation - 1: forced submission to control by others; 2: the act of subjugating by cruelty; "the tyrant's oppression of the people"; 3: the act of conquering ----_

Music: "Wires" by Athlete

Subjection Subjugation

Conditioned 

Inuyasha wrapped his arms around his knees, burying his head in those as despair began to overwhelm him.

Hopelessness had already taken over, so why shouldn't despair come as well?

He shuddered as his sensitive ears picked up the faint whirring of the strange instrument up in the corner of the room, it's "lens" twisting about, focusing in on him as they watched. They always watched. He was never safe from them.

He whimpered quietly and shivered, the cold air of the room caressing his skin and chilling him to the bone. They had taken away his fire-rat clothes a long time ago, and, while for a while he had had some strange garments they had given him, usually he was naked. Clothes just got in the way of the wires and needles they used when they were testing him.

Dammit! Why couldn't he have listened to Kagome? Why couldn't he have stayed home while she went to school? Did he really have to go and save that little girl from the fire? Did the wind really have to blow his hat away? Did everybody have to see him afterward...

Inuyasha shuddered at the thought, quickly locking those memories away.

He had thought it was bad in his own time-- how he had been treated by other demons and humans-- but here it was much worse. They didn't understand who or what he was, where he had come from or why he was here. And he really was beginning to believe they didn't care.

Didn't care that he had a "family" back "where he had come from" with Sango and Miroku and Shippo. Didn't care that he still needed to defeat Naraku, to help Kikyo find peace, and to get hold of the Shikon jewel and... do something with it.

Not that he had really explained any of that to them.

They hadn't wanted to hear about his negation at being held captive here... he didn't want to think what would happen if they discovered the Shikon Jewel or the well.

In all honesty, he didn't know if they had gotten to Kagome yet by some strange connection through him, but he hoped not. He prayed that she stayed safe and they never found out about her or the well. She needed to complete the quest if he couldn't get out... and then she needed to seal the well forever and just... stay safe. Never think about this again.

That was the only option for her.

If they found out about her, if they captured her too, did to her what they had done to him... he wouldn't be able to bear it. He'd turn demon for certain... he'd kill them all.

They had found some strange drug of some kind that managed to sedate his demon side (Tetsusaiga not being an option since they refused to allow him to have the sword, and didn't believe that it suppressed his blood anyway) and used that on him in great dosages everyday, but that still wouldn't be enough... not if Kagome was captured. He didn't care what the consequences were, he'd _force _himself to turn demon if it meant he could get Kagome away from this... _place_.

"That place" is the only name he could use to refer to the "research organization" they kept him in. He knew no other name for it, and did not think it was worthy of one. "Torture chamber" had seemed like a likely candidate at first, but even that was not enough to describe the horror's of it-- especially since what they did to him was not torture.

And it hurt... hurt him to think that there could actually _be_ people so cruel as to do... _this_. To anything. Plant, animal, _human _or demon. It was disgusting, it was sickening, and it was... happening. Everywhere. To a myriad of others. And to him.

Just so they could satisfy their curiosity about him-- his powers, his blood, his ears, the colour of his eyes and hair, every last little detail. They wanted something from him that they called "DNA" and, though he doubted they knew, he had picked up on more than one of their conversations as to what they wanted to do with it.

Genetic remodification, analysis, gene splicing... many more complicated and cruel sounding things that all sounded incredibly foreign and strange to his ears, but the meanings behind them were even worse.

They wanted to try and clone him, which apparently meant creating a twin of him of sorts, tap into his power and see if they could harness it. They wanted to steal his DNA and give it to others, put it inside babies so that they would come out differently, stronger, or perhaps simply with his "exotic" hair and eyes.

It was disgusting and horrifying to him, the idea that someone, _anyone_, would want a ready-made baby that had all the features they wanted in them. It made him sick.

Apparently people in Kagome's era didn't care if the baby was truly and completely there's or not, just so long as it had the perfection and attributes they wanted. No matter who or what those attributes originally belonged to.

And the testing.

That was the worst.

But that was pretty much all he did.

They would hook him up to tables, give him drugs that, would likely kill a human, but just made him feel incredibly... dead inside. And he would lie on the tables they strapped him too, his eyes glazed over, as they hooked him up to cables and wires, shoved needles into him, prodded him with strange instruments, shocked him with a painful lightening that they called "electricity" that shot through his body and made him jerk and writhe in pain as it felt like his insides were being melted from the heat.

They would place him in "conditioned" rooms, subjecting him to extreme temperatures, keeping him for long hours in the dark, or light, play different types of "music" incredibly loud (even to human ears) or quiet in the background...

Sometimes they put him in rooms with other creatures-- animals-- observing how he interacted with them. The most common were, of course, dogs and cats.

But he remained indifferent to most of them.

Except two.

There was one cream coloured cat with black stripes, and a deep burgundy coloured fox that he had taken a liking too. Not because they were by any means different from the others, but they reminded him of Shippo and Kirara. Not much, but it still helped. A little.

He clenched his teeth slightly together to keep from crying, his mouth missing the spaces where his fangs used to be.

The humans couldn't permanently remove them, but they every half a day they were forced to defang him or risk loosing their hands... or anything else he could reach. That was there excuse anyway. But, with the amount of sedatives they had given him, he didn't buy it. He knew that they knew, as long as they kept pumping him full of drugs, he was all but helpless against them. In fact, he knew the real reason they wanted his fangs.

Once they had seen how quickly they could grow back, they were enthralled. They had immediately taken an interest in them as well, using _their _DNA in some sort of research project to give humans the ability to regenerate teeth.

How pathetic.

He didn't know what had happened, but he assumed that, somewhere along the road, the humans had gone berserk and somehow managed to slaughter the youkai in the world, or at least force them into hiding.

Then, once they were certain that the creatures with strength far surpassing their own could not interfere, they began striving to _become _like the very creature's they had destroyed-- powerful, beautiful... perfect.

Basically it seemed that the world wanted to turn itself into a planet that supported a bunch of lunatic creatures that all looked, thought and had the powers of Sesshomaru.

It was an insane and scary thought, because he knew that even Sesshomaru could not be this cruel.

He had saved that little girl, hadn't he? And Jaken? He had even saved Kagome and the other's on a few occasions. Hell, Sesshomaru had saved _him_, however subtly and discreetly he went about it, and Inuyasha knew the Lord of the West was not as cold as he made himself out to be.

Inuyasha heard footsteps in the hall, ones that he was certain even the sensitive monitor on the camera could not perseve, and he could not help but tense, though he tried to fight it. Little reactions like that were exactly what the camera was there for-- to see how he reacted to all these things.

A second later the footsteps became louder, and he saw the little light on the camera go on, alerting the ones watching that a foreign sound outside the room was making itself known. He knew that they, however, would already know. Just by his reaction. And he hated it. He hated helping them. In _any_ way.

Keys rattling in the locks, making his ears twitch, a scanned going off as it identified the person's finger or palm "print" or something, and another as they stuck their little security card in the slot, and Inuyasha couldn't help but snort at their precautions.

Why the hell were they so worried?

They had him right where they wanted him.

He wasn't going anywhere.

And no one was coming to get him, either.

The heavy steal door slid open slowly and Inuyasha mentally snorted again.

For all their security measures, all he had to do was somehow disconnect the "camera" and, with the amount of time that door took to open, he could be up and ready to kill the intruder in a second.

Then it was just a matter of steal their keys, card and hands and he was all but home free.

He mentally sighed.

If only it was that simple.

The door finally opened fully, just wide enough for one man to fit through (though it could open to fit three in case they had to "escort" someone in) and two of the "researchers" came in.

Inuyasha didn't bother to look up, watched as their dark "shoes" and the hems of their long white coats came into view.

'Come on, Inuyasha. We have work to do.' One of them said, softly. He presumed that to be a male voice, but he had been in here so long all of them had started to mesh together-- it was nearly impossible for him to tell the difference.

He tensed slightly at the sound of his name, remembering all the tortures they had induced upon him to get him to tell them it, but made no other move to move.

The other sighed softly, and then there were arms under his own, lifting him.

Inuyasha allowed himself to be drawn to his feet, slumping in their grip while his ears automatically pinned themselves to his head.

It wasn't a naturally instinctive action, but a conditioned one. Because, out of all the things they had found fascinating about him, his ears had definitely gotten the most "attention" and he simply did not want the abused appendages to endure anymore. It hurt so much whenever they tested him, but his ears had always been especially sensitive, and he had never liked having them touched... now he had people stabbing at them and prodding them 24/7.

Inuyasha did not pay much attention as they blindfolded him and led him off down the many corridors. Stupid humans. If he ever escaped, he simply had to follow his ears to find his way out. His nose wouldn't do much good, since the entire place smell of drugs, pain and other "research" involved things.

He heard them opening a door and then leading him forward again a bit, before arms were suddenly under his legs and he was being lifted again, placed up on his mortal enemy-- the table.

His wrists and ankles were strapped in, his neck as well as they placed the funny suction-cups with wires upon his forehead, inside his ears, on his chest and thighs.

The blindfold was removed and Inuyasha blinked at the bright light shining down directly into his eyes.

'Hello Inuyasha.' A voice from somewhere to his left said as the first needle was stuck into his arm. Oh great. A talker. He hated it when they talked to him. It was horrible-- he couldn't think of the right answers to make them stop, and he couldn't concentrate anyway. However, right now that wasn't his main concern.

He was mostly concerned with the face that he knew that voice.

He couldn't put a name to it, of course, since the doctors never told them their real names, and he never asked anyway, not bothering to remember the names he was given. But still, that was beside the point.

He could remember by how they treated him, what they did to him. And this guy was, he knew, one of the higher up people in this place-- one of the ones his future rode upon. And also one of the one's he hated the most.

Inuyasha didn't bother to look over in the direction the voice had come from, instead sliding his eyes shut and gritting his teeth as another needle was stuck into him and they sent a small jolt of electricity through his body.

He could feel his demon blood trying to rise to the surface, but the voice owner seemed to notice as well, and quickly gave a command that had yet another, larger needle stuck into him.

Inuyasha cried out softly, his youki snarling in anger as it was again overcome by the drug, and he fell limply against the table.

For a long while there was nothing but the beeping and buzzing and shifting of clothing and dull murmuring of voices, the scratching of pens on paper and the feel of needles jabbing into his skin.

Then it suddenly stopped and the ones surrounding him stepped away.

All accept the head doctor.

He stepped closer.

Inuyasha could smell him, and he weakly turned his head the other way, growling low in his throat when the doctor presumed to place a hand under his chin and turn his head back.

The man, surprisingly enough, heeded the warning, and let his hand drop down to Inuyaha's chest instead, toying with one of the wires there as he let out an over-dramatic and clearly acted-out sigh.

'You know Inuyasha, if you would just work with us your stay here could be much more enjoyable.' He said, his voice echoing dully around Inuyasha's mind and making the hanyou mentally chuckle.

'Yeah... right... how could you complete your research then... if I was happy?' He asked slowly, his voice rasping against his throat painfully. 'Face it... you need to put me in miserable conditions to... determine how much I can endure... before you kill me.'

He felt tears being to rise within him, though not yet reaching his eyes, and his voice became incredibly quiet. 'You don't ever plan to let me go.'

The doctor was silent a moment, and then said 'Inuyasha, we cannot just let you go like that. With the help you're giving us, our research will be saving millions all over the world--'

'With my _help_?' He demanded savagely, breaking his own rule to converse with the humans as little as possible. 'You humans are in need of more help than you think if you have got it in your head that I'm _helping _or _giving _you anything. No. You guys are taking and stealing. There's a difference.'

'So you do not care of all the lives you are saving--'

'What _lives _could I _possibly _be saving? You've got me hooked up to a table and are stealing my "DNA" so that you can clone yourselves into super-humans-- so that you can finally feel superior to demons! You're not saving anyone, and neither am I. I used to save people... not anymore...'

He could feel the doctor's barely suppressed agitation, but he could feel his excitement as well, and Inuyasha knew why. He had been talking without thinking, and had all but told them everything they had ever wanted to know about him. All they didn't know was where he had come from and how he had got here-- why he was here in the first place.

They were three of the five W's, maybe, but one would lead to the other, and as long as each individual one of them stayed safe, they could never get at the group.

'So you are saying you regret saving that little girl? If you had it to do over, you would let her die?'

Inuyasha scoffed. 'If I had it to do over, I would've strapped that fucking hat to my head.' He snarled, his energy waning quickly, and his eyes trying to drift closed. Gods he hated this. He never used to get tired like this...

'Be that as it may, you saved her life. And now you are helping to give others the lives they have always dreamed of having. You're a hero to them--'

Inuyasha blocked out the rest of the doctor's words.

Hero.

To them.

Does that mean that other's knew about him now too?

Would they come and try to get him? Would they leave him here? Would they do worse?

Most importantly, was Kagome one of those "them" he spoke of?

Inuyasha wanted to think about this, but the doctor's ramblings were making it too difficult, and he couldn't concentrate.

Growling angrily, he turned flashing gold eyes upon the man, whose face was hidden from the shadows cast by the light.

'Hero? I'm a hero?' He said angrily, making the man go calmly silent, waiting for the rest. And Inuyasha gave it to him. 'Is this what you do to hero's? Lock them up, tie them up, fill them with drugs and "condition" them like they are not worthy of anything better? Like they don't deserve a say?'

The man seemed to consider him a moment, and then said 'It is all for the greater good, Inuyasha.' Calmly. Inuyasha's eyes widened as pain flooded through him at that thought. That was the only explanation? He was being tortured like this for the _greater good_?

Inuyasha shook his head softly and turned away, hiding his tears from the man.

'"Greater good."' He said softly, mockingly. 'You want the greater good. You think this is the way to get it? You fools. Each of you. You humans are very strange creatures, more corrupt than I first thought. Give you power and you are corrupted. Give you trust and you break it. Give you life and you try and master and better it. You should feel glad that you are allowed to breathe at all. Stop trying to improve on what you cannot. Stop trying to cheat nature.' He said in a sudden burst of drug-induced wisdom, not really understanding what he had just said, but apparently satisfied that it had made sense to the man.

'Nature cheated us first.' The man returned slowly, and Inuyasha lay still, silent for a moment, and then turned slowly to face the man again, his eyes grim.

'You're free aren't you?' He asked.

The man had nothing to say to that, and Inuyasha turned away again as unconsciousness began to rule in his mind and he slipped away into the welcome darkness, effectively declaring the conversation over.

The doctor stared at him for a moment, before turned slowly and clicking on a machine, monitoring the hanyou's mind and breathing frequency's, before exiting the room entirely, leaving Inuyasha alone to himself in sleep.

The only place he found peace.

END

Glossary

Youkai - Demon

Youki - A Demon's "Demonic energy"

Hanyou - Half-Demon

A/N: Well that's it for now.

What do you think?

Should I continue?

Let me know!

Reviews/emails more than welcome!

Flames are welcome too, since they usually provide me with some amusement!

Rips aren't allowed, and really, if you've got the time to write out a rip, then maybe you should be using it instead to go and find a story that you actually enjoy enough to place a serious review on.

Avarwen


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